Tuesday, November 15, 2011

One of the themes of technology and society as
it has evolved recently, is the fact that it enables us to actualize our
individuality. We now have to means to
be different and don’t have to follow the herd. Thought I’d checklist some of these.

Recently I read an article about the use of
facial recognition software for a variety of everyday things. This includes digital billboards that can
flash an ad depending on the profile of customer faces (shapes?) walking by and
singles bars that flash current customer profiles to those choosing a venue. This
is something happening commercially already in the US. Google and Facebook
already have perfected this art of pushing material online that suits customer behavior
and profile. Smart phones in an always-on internet mode are also doing this.

Psychographic profiling for potential employees
is already the norm across the globe. So
some tests determine that your talents and inclinations intersect for a job.

The popular media is already working on
tailoring programmes that suit viewers interests, I e, what they like. So its
not unusual for TV soaps, in India, to
reinforce traditional roles in the home, women dressing up and cooking, the
household help in a “kicked around” mode and the kids doing “cute” things or
not featuring at all (seen not heard philosophy).

The K-12 schooling system works overtime to cut
out all individuality in the pursuit of the grade. The ticket to happiness is
cramming in the exponential growth in the world of science and arts into the
same 12 years that kids did decades ago. The ticket to reducing grief are tests
that establish whether you will be a potential Einstein or a Picasso to guide
to applying for college education. The
fact that you are under-confident or under-exposed to some new area doesn’t
enter this equation at all.

So between the above developments:

i)K-12
for school going age

ii)Aptitude
tests based on the institutionalization process of K-12 for college

iii)Jobs
that narrow down based on the above

iv)Social
life that is reinforced electronically

The pressure to be politically correct is
therefore on the up. It isn’t done for
Metallica to say that the organizers “screwed up” when a show was cancelled at
the last minute in Delhi. They push out stuff like “safety of our fans is
paramout”…..as if they have any control over who gets doped out at their
concerts. The West Indies team cannot
say, “we aren’t too worried about Sachin Tendulkar, Viru and Dravid bother us
more”. They’d get hammered in the media…and guess which country their
endorsements come from? Home or here in India.

This is premised on the fact that you are
affluent enough to go to school, college and get a well-paying job, enough to
afford TV and the internet. And go to
Metallica concerts or cricket stadia.

In other words,
we have now speedily evolved into prisoners of the technology age. It isn’t enough that your social peers are
hammering you with conformist ideas, it’s now everywhere.

So when
and where do you get the chance to experience something new and different? Its
called diversity I think. Even if you do, social pressure will brand you an
outcast – if you’re just an average guy – or a “maverick” if you are Muhammad
Ali, so good that it doesn’t matter if you don’t like him. (Remember he went to jail for his anti-draft
stand and standing up for his rights).

So what’s the way out of this?

Be poor to start with. It’s the only section
that seems to fall outside the prison walls that are being constructed for the
middle class. The advertisers won’t both you, TV can’t reach you, facial
recognition will pitch you as a “needy” person and hopefully flash food shelter
promotionals to you. Since you won’t be qualified for a job described above,
you need to be an entrepreneur to make your way up the social ladder. By the
time you make it big, it’ll be too late for anyone to change you or treat you
as an outcast. Sounds like Ali?

Or be rich
to start with.

21st Century Schizoid Man. We’re
working so hard to be different…the same way.